The U.S. government could take equity stakes in more companies, potentially through an American sovereign wealth fund, according to one of President Donald Trump\u2019s top economic advisers.<\/p>\n
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett made the comments Monday, days after the United States took a nearly 10% stake in Intel. The government secured a piece of the semiconductor maker with money intended for grants as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, passed during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the new Intel position, Hassett told CNBC: \u201cIt\u2019s like a down payment on a sovereign wealth fund, which many countries have.\u201d Governments throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East use such funds to invest in companies and other financial assets.<\/p>\n
The federal government has taken ownership stakes in private companies before, but only under extraordinary circumstances, such as during the global financial crisis of 2008.<\/p>\n
Hassett said the Intel investment was a \u2018very, very special circumstance because of the massive amount of CHIPS Act spending that was coming Intel\u2019s way.\u2019 <\/p>\n
He added: \u201cSo I\u2019m sure that at some point there\u2019ll be more transactions, if not in this industry, in other industries.\u2019<\/p>\n
The CHIPS Act was established as a way for the government to provide financing and capital to foreign and domestic companies that manufactured semiconductors and related products in the United States. <\/p>\n
Americans and the American economy received the benefit of more than $200 billion in private capital investments since the act was signed into law, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Many companies also announced plans to create new U.S. manufacturing and construction jobs. <\/p>\n
Hassett has said the money was \u2018going out and disappearing into the ether.\u2019 <\/p>\n
He has also said, \u2018We\u2019re absolutely not in the business of picking winners and losers.\u2019 However, the United States is now Intel\u2019s largest single shareholder. The administration has also taken a \u2018golden share\u2019 in U.S. Steel as part of approving its merger with Japan\u2019s Nippon Steel. Trump also said he negotiated with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to take a 15% cut of the chipmaker\u2019s revenue from some chips sold in China. He also has a similar deal with rival chipmaker AMD.<\/p>\n
Later Monday, Trump said, \u2018I want them to do well anyway, but I want them to do well in particular now.\u2019 <\/p>\n
He added, \u2018I hope I\u2019m going to have many more cases like\u2019 the Intel stake. Asked whether taking equity stakes in private companies was the new way of doing business in the United States, Trump responded: \u2018So are tariffs.\u2019 <\/p>\n
After Hassett\u2019s interview, Trump said on Truth Social: \u2018I PAID ZERO FOR INTEL, IT IS WORTH APPROXIMATELY 11 BILLION DOLLARS. All goes to the USA.\u2019 He also said he would \u2018help those companies that make such lucrative deals with the United States.\u2019<\/p>\n
It was unclear why Trump said the United States did not pay anything for the stake. The government purchased 433.3 million Intel shares at $20.47 each, which equates to $8.9 billion. <\/p>\n
Trump has also pushed companies to change course on key products, such as when he pre-emptively announced that Coca-Cola would add cane sugar to an American version of its namesake product.<\/p>\n
Trump has also threatened firms such as Amazon, Mattel, Hasbro and Walmart with retaliation for hiking prices as a result of his sweeping global tariff regime. <\/p>\n